Stuart Scott’s lessons in authenticity

I was a senior in college in 1993, the year a new ESPN SportsCenter anchor named Stuart Scott arrived on the scene.

I vividly remember sitting in my campus apartment with my roommates and friends watching and listening to this guy with his crazy expressions and an energy that was completely different than the other anchors I’d grown up watching. I recall laughing and joking that he was out of his mind and would never last. What I didn’t know at the time was that 20 years into a career in communications, I’d still be learning valuable lessons from the way he approached his job and his life.

Scott, who died Sunday after a long bout with cancer, taught us that it was okay to be different as long as you believed in what you were doing. Scott believed in breaking from the status quo and paving his own path. Those more interested in creating an image will change with public perception, while those with true passion and dedication will stay the course and bring others around to their way of thinking.